Former minister and partner of now late struggle veteran Ahmed Kathrada‚ Barbara Hogan on Friday said President Jacob Zuma had gone rogue.

She referred to the cabinet reshuffle as a “dastardly deed done in a dark corner of the country” and said she was incredibly angered.

“If this was a presidency that was listening to the sentiments of this country‚ the funeral service of Mr Kathrada alone would have alerted them to the high emotions‚” she said.
“The president is completely willing to push ahead with his own postal agenda.

“Surely they could have held off‚ just a while‚ out of respect for Kathrada‚” said Hogan.

Hogan expressed the need for a “broad political coalition” to force Zuma to step down.

The director of the Kathrada Foundation‚ Neeshan Bolton‚ echoed the call Kathrada made a year ago in his open letter to Zuma‚ and also asked him to step down.

The Kathrada Foundation and Nelson Mandela Foundation jointly called an urgent press briefing to address the cancellation of an official memorial service for Kathrada‚ which was to have been held on Saturday at the University of Johannesburg.

The foundations announced that the memorial will go ahead regardless‚ organised by the Foundations and other parties including the SACP

It will take place at the Johannesburg City Hall at 2pm on Saturday.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will be speaking at the service‚ the Kathrada foundation announced.

The presidency did not give a reason why it had cancelled the memorial service.

Zuma was notably absent from Kathrada’s funeral on Wednesday - at the behest of the family‚ the Presidency said.